American Horror Story is an American series of horror seasons on FX, that tell a new story season to season. The producers of the show are Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series is meant to reach out to a wide range of ages, I would say it mainly targets teenagers and people in their early to middle adulthood. The Asylum is the second season of the series American Horror Story. Asylum begins in the 1960’s at a mental institution named Briarclif Manor, which happens to be in the hands of a Catholic Church (Minear. & Bradley, 2011). In the show mental illness is portrayed as a crime, racism is acceptable, and homosexuality is seen as a mental illness. Some of the main characters portrayed in Asylum include a news reporter by the name
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At the beginning of the show there is a young White man named Kit who marries an African American woman named Alma. In the time period the show is portrayed it is not accepted by the public to be a part of a multi-racial family. With the publics pressure Kit and Alma do not share the news with their family members, but Kits friends seem to find out that Kit lives with a ‘Niger.’ Kit’s friends jokingly ask Kit how much money he is making that he was able to afford buying a chocolate maid. In the 1960’s slavery was long gone, for Kit’s friends to even imply that he purchased a slave is not acceptable. The message this portrays to the audience is that it is still okay to call African American’s the ‘N’ word, and that they are not equal to White people because they were once slaves. Another instance where racism is portrayed is when a patient of Mexican decent has disappeared from Briarclif. The few times she is mentioned in the show she is not referred to by her name she is called ‘The Mexican.’ Not once in the show do they state what ‘The Mexican’s’ name is, everyone else in the show is worthy enough to have a name except ‘The Mexican.’ This sends a message that not only are White people more worthy than colored people but that White people have the power to decide who is worthy enough to have a name and who can be objectified. In general, American Horror Story Asylum did a poor job of having diversity among …show more content…
Heterosexuality is heavily portrayed as the only acceptable sexual orientation in the eyes of god and the public. In Asylum Lana Winters is admitted to Briarclif after her girlfriend was persuaded to sign the documentation to admit her into Briarclif in exchange of not revealing the relationship they have to the public. Once admitted to Briarclif Lana is told by Sister Jude that she will help her slay the monster inside of her in order to get her cured (Minear. & Bradley, 2011). The first treatment Lana was given was electroshock therapy which was not effective. Lana is then convinced to accept aversion/conversion therapy in hopes of leaving Briarclif but her attempt to leave Briarclif is far beyond her reach. In the process of the therapy Lana is given Apomorphine while she is seeing pictures of women in lingerie in attempt to train her body to physically repel with certain triggers. This whole process is humiliating to Lana and doesn’t change her mindset which is what Dr.Thredson would have hoped for. This portrayal in Asylum sends a message to the public that heterosexuality is the appropriate sexual orientation, and that god is not accepting of other sexual orientations. In other words, the show states that homosexuality implies that you are ill and need to be cured of such illness. The differences that are pointed out in American Horror Story Asylum are only a few of many that
At the beginning of the show there is a young White man named Kit who marries an African American woman named Alma. In the time period the show is portrayed it is not accepted by the public to be a part of a multi-racial family. With the publics pressure Kit and Alma do not share the news with their family members, but Kits friends seem to find out that Kit lives with a ‘Niger.’ Kit’s friends jokingly ask Kit how much money he is making that he was able to afford buying a chocolate maid. In the 1960’s slavery was long gone, for Kit’s friends to even imply that he purchased a slave is not acceptable. The message this portrays to the audience is that it is still okay to call African American’s the ‘N’ word, and that they are not equal to White people because they were once slaves. Another instance where racism is portrayed is when a patient of Mexican decent has disappeared from Briarclif. The few times she is mentioned in the show she is not referred to by her name she is called ‘The Mexican.’ Not once in the show do they state what ‘The Mexican’s’ name is, everyone else in the show is worthy enough to have a name except ‘The Mexican.’ This sends a message that not only are White people more worthy than colored people but that White people have the power to decide who is worthy enough to have a name and who can be objectified. In general, American Horror Story Asylum did a poor job of having diversity among …show more content…
Heterosexuality is heavily portrayed as the only acceptable sexual orientation in the eyes of god and the public. In Asylum Lana Winters is admitted to Briarclif after her girlfriend was persuaded to sign the documentation to admit her into Briarclif in exchange of not revealing the relationship they have to the public. Once admitted to Briarclif Lana is told by Sister Jude that she will help her slay the monster inside of her in order to get her cured (Minear. & Bradley, 2011). The first treatment Lana was given was electroshock therapy which was not effective. Lana is then convinced to accept aversion/conversion therapy in hopes of leaving Briarclif but her attempt to leave Briarclif is far beyond her reach. In the process of the therapy Lana is given Apomorphine while she is seeing pictures of women in lingerie in attempt to train her body to physically repel with certain triggers. This whole process is humiliating to Lana and doesn’t change her mindset which is what Dr.Thredson would have hoped for. This portrayal in Asylum sends a message to the public that heterosexuality is the appropriate sexual orientation, and that god is not accepting of other sexual orientations. In other words, the show states that homosexuality implies that you are ill and need to be cured of such illness. The differences that are pointed out in American Horror Story Asylum are only a few of many that